An Argentine climber stranded on Mount Logan, Canada’s highest peak in Kluane National Park and Reserve in Yukon, has been rescued according to a blog post by her partner.
Natalia Martínez, 37, was attempting a solo traverse of Mount Logan when she got stranded after two large earthquakes on Monday caused avalanches near her camp. Martínez, an experienced climber, decided to call in a rescue rather than risk traversing unstable terrain about 3,900 metres up on the mountain’s eastern ridge.
But her rescue was delayed by a storms and strong winds that pounded the mountain.
However, in a message posted by ExpeNews, Martínez’s partner Camilo Rada, who has been in contact with her by satellite phone and text, wrote that she was successfully rescued on Thursday in a three-hour operation that ended at about 10:30 p.m. local time (1 a.m. ET).
“NATALIA IS BACK WITH US SAFE AND SOUND!!!!” Rada wrote in his post. “I cannot be happier now!!!”
Rada wrote that after the initial rescue attempt on Thursday was postponed to Friday because of bad weather, Icefield Discovery’s pilot Tom Bradley, who was in a neighbouring area observed an improvement in weather conditions.
He passed on the information to the rescue team who got in touch with Martínez and launched the rescue operation. Martínez has been taken to the Icefield Discovery base in Kluane Lake where she started her expedition.
She is said to be healthy and uninjured despite her ordeal.
Martínez has had to endure temperatures of -20 C, battle strong winds and shovel her tent out of snow every couple of hours to avoid being buried under and suffocating while she waited for the rescue to arrive. She had plenty of food and fuel but at times was unable to cook because the winds where so strong she couldn’t risk lighting her stove in the tent.
An average of 25 climbers try to summit the mountain every year, but Parks Canada officials say solo attempts are rare.
(Darren Foltinek/frontrange.ca/Facebook)
With files from The Canadian Press
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